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Display flickering at 50% brightness and below

creightoncarr

New Member
I have seen a number of threads regarding display flickering on the SP4 described as the display going on and off rapidly. I have not experienced that particular issue, but at 50% brightness and below occasionally my display will have that flickering appearance to it that you get when the display refresh rate is too low and you can discern the screen redraws. When it starts it will usually continue until I change Windows or turn the SP4 off and back on. Anyone else experience this?
 
Do you have Hyper-V enabled? There is a known issue. You have to disable Hyper-V. No flickering for me since. You can try disabling auto dimming, but that hasn't created any flickering for me.
 
OP
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creightoncarr

New Member
I have disabled Hyper-V yet the issue remains. I suppose it could be the result of PWM dimming, but I only observe the low screen brightness flicker occasionally. If it was the result of PWM, I would think I would notice it consistently at low brightness levels.
 

maxx7

New Member
The firmware update does not fix the low brightness flickering. If I switch of the auto brightness and set the display brightness to more than 25%, then the flickering disappears. Otherwise it will flicker just very slightly and randomly. It is as if the backlight would be going to break - a little like an old light that flickers before it goes out. It is not the PWM flicker what I'm talking about. I think someone already measured that there is no PWM flicker.
 

EMINENT

Active Member
I experienced this for a moment a couple days ago before yesterday's cumulative update on 11/24. I haven't seen it again since.
 

Floswen

New Member
Hi guys, I am a new owner of a SPRO4, and I am experiencing the same issue as the OP. I can see the thread is old, but I couldnt manage to find a solution.
My device is fully updated.

When i set brightness under 25%, my screen is flickering. It is really annoying, as I usually tend to read at night a lot.

I tried
- to disable Hyper-V
- install the beta driver for the Intel Graphics 520 in order to acces HD Panel and disable the other options
- reinstall the recomended drivers

What would you recommend me to do? Complete reset of the device? Or ask my seller to replace it?
Thanks guys!

Edit : My SPRO4 is running perfectly, the only issue I have experienced is a black screen after I closed the cover on the running device.
 
Last edited:

leeshor

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum

The flickering issue with brightness at <25% is a known issue and will likely see a patch soon. On the black screen issue, (they may be related to each other), several prople have foumnd using the Win+P keys 3 times or a ctrl-alt-del have brought the Surface back to life. That too will probably see a fix sooner rather than later.
 

Floswen

New Member
Thanks for your answer, I will wait for a future update and keep my device.

So far I enjoy it so much, I was sad I'd have to return it!
 

MikemanSP4

Super Moderator
Staff member
One thing you may want to check to see if your Video Card might be failing is - Hook it up via HDMI and if it fails after 5+ minutes of use on an external monitor / TV - You might own a failing video card. This is whats happened with mine, and I am currently working through a replacement with Microsoft. My screen would shake / flicker on the bottom half. When I would unplug my power supply the flickering would slow down and sometimes disappear, but it would never completely go away. So I called MS and got a RMA number. I will post back when I get it resolved.
 
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